Submission ID 130903
| Issue/Objective | Health mis- and disinformation are a defining challenge for contemporary health systems, and yet little is known about the actors and networks that shape them, especially from a political and economic perspective. Contested health issues - sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), climate-health, pandemic preparedness - are often studied in isolation, which can obscure the shared funders, platforms, and institutional actors that increasingly tether anti-science campaigns to broader political and commercial projects. The evidence base is also heavily skewed toward the Global North, even though Latin America has been a central theatre of populist health disinformation, with documented equity consequences for Afro-descendant, Indigenous, rural, and conflict-affected communities. This study explores how the political economy and strategies of health information networks in Latin America operate across contested public health issues, and with what consequences for policy and health equity. |
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| Methodology/Approach | We conduct a scoping review following JBI methodology of peer-reviewed and grey literature (2015-2026) on the political dimensions shaping health information networks in Latin America, across SRHR, climate-health, and pandemic preparedness. Searches span English, Spanish and Portuguese databases. Extraction and synthesis are organised around a common coding framework capturing actors, funders, platforms, strategies, policy pathways, and equity consequences. The review runs March-August 2026 and will ground future research developing from its findings. |
| Results | Preliminary synthesis identifies recurring features across issues: overlapping actors, most prominently an alliance between right-wing political leadership and conservative-religious networks, link anti-SRHR, climate-sceptic, and anti-vaccine movements; platform-mediated amplification by faith-based and ultra-conservative networks; and systematic under-representation of Afro-descendant, Indigenous, and rural voices in both mis/disinformation and corrective communication. Cross-issue convergence is most evident where networks mobilise shared "protection-of-family" and "sovereignty" framings. |
| Discussion/Conclusion | By assessing the political and economic factors shaping health information environments - rather than clinical and behavioural intervention - the review relocates intervention upstream: at financing, platforms, and governance. Findings inform what strategies shape public debate, who funds and sustains them, and what this means for policy and equity. In a fragmented information and governance landscape, addressing these upstream drivers is foundational to addressing the severe and inequitable health outcomes wrought by dis/misinformation environments. |
| Presenters and Affiliations | Miranda Bain Pandemic and Emergency Readiness Lab, Department of Global and Public Health, McGill University Hannah Hagos Pandemic and Emergency Readiness Lab, Department of Global and Public Health, McGill University Isabel Munoz Beaulieu Pandemic and Emergency Readiness Lab, Department of Global and Public Health, McGill University |
